“I will take the positives” – Nishesh Basavareddy

Following a hard-fought battle in the second round of the 2026 French Open, American rising tennis star Nishesh Basavareddy sat down with sports journalist Prateek to reflect on his performance against Alex Michelsen. Despite showing flashes of brilliance—including a dominant third set and effective drop shots—Basavareddy narrowly missed out on the win in a match decided by just a few crucial points. In this interview, he breaks down the key moments of the match, the challenging court conditions, and his transition to the upcoming grass-court season.

Final Score: 6-7, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6 (Alex Michelsen won)

Prateek: Nishesh, a great fight out there. Unfortunately, it did not go your way, but how are you feeling about the match? What are your thoughts?

Nishesh Basavareddy: Yeah, obviously a tough one. I feel like it was just a couple of points here and there. In the first set, I got the break, then went down a break, and then was up 5-3 in the tiebreak. He played a little aggressive, made a couple of good serves as well, so that first set was up and down. In the second set, I feel like I came out a little bit slow and he took advantage. But after that, I thought I raised my level and I was confident I could still come back. I dropped my level in the last five minutes, though, and that was enough for him to get the win today. But again, it was just a couple of points here and there, so it’s frustrating.

Prateek: Yeah, and one positive was the third set, which was really dominant by you. That was quite good, a great win there. What was your game plan coming into this match?

Nishesh Basavareddy: Yeah, I mean, obviously it’s been hot. On the outside courts, it’s even faster than the court I played on last match, so it was going to be a lot about serve and return. From the back, I tried to mix it up, but I feel like it was a little bit tough to do that with just how fast it was going. I didn’t serve great for a lot of the match, which made it a little bit tougher, but credit to him—he came up with some good shots on big points.

Prateek: Alex took a medical timeout at 3-4 in the fourth set. Do you think that disrupted your rhythm at all?

Nishesh Basavareddy: Um, I mean, tough to say. It’s all part of the game. I definitely dropped my energy a little bit in maybe the first couple of points of the next game, so next time I need to not let that drop happen.

Prateek: Reflecting on your experience at Roland Garros—especially winning your first-round match—how do you feel about your performance here and your clay-court season in general? What has improved and what still needs work?

Nishesh Basavareddy: Yeah, there are still positives to take from this week. Hopefully, I can start to build on it more. In terms of improvement, I think we have a pretty clear vision. I just need to keep playing aggressively, working on coming to the net more, and working on my serve. It’ll take time, but I think it has been better over the course of the clay season.

Prateek: Your drop shot came out to be quite a good weapon against him today, and at times it was really effective. So, what is your schedule looking like for the next month or two?

Nishesh Basavareddy: Yeah, I’ll take the next 10 days or so off, and then I’ll start on grass. I’ll play in one of the ATP 250s, then a Grass Challenger, and then Wimbledon qualifying. So yeah, moving on to the grass season.